REVIEW: Jurassic Park 3D

Courtesy of Universal

When Jurassic Park hit theaters in the summer of 1993, I was 12-years-old and already obsessed with dinosaurs. Considering I was the target audience for Steven Spielberg’s adventure flick, you can assume I was anticipating it a tad. However, my parents weren’t exactly “rush out on opening day” kind of folks. So, despite my constant whining, I didn’t see the film until a few weeks after it had already smashed box office records and dominated the pop culture landscape.

By the time I sat down in a theater to experience the movie, I was practically shaking with anticipation. Then, after a few scenes to establish characters and plot, it finally happened: that gigantic brachiosaurus appeared on the screen, ambling across the hillside accompanied by John Williams’ majestic theme. I won’t lie to you – I cried. Not because I was sad or scared, but from the sheer wonder of the moment. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t think. I just gaped in amazement that I was seeing an actual dinosaur.

Of course I didn’t think of the brachiosaurus was “really” real. Even then I was enough of a movie nerd to understand it was created by brilliant technicians through a combination of animatronics and groundbreaking visual effects. Still, some collective consciousness in my brain was telling me they got it right.

And that wasn’t even the best part of the movie! I still had the now-iconic Tyrannosaurus rex attack and the harrowing “velociraptors in the kitchen” scene ahead of me. As the end credits rolled, 12-year-old me was convinced that Jurassic Park was the greatest movie ever made. Once it came out on video, I watched that VHS tape until I could recite the entire film from memory. Looking back, you might say was my final childhood experience before entering the uncharted waters of adolescence and adulthood. Goodbye dinosaurs, hello girls.

Fast-forward to earlier this week, when I got an opportunity to see Jurassic Park 3D. Universal is releasing a post-converted version of the film in theaters for a few weeks to commemorate the 20th anniversary (man, I’m old) and I thought it would be a nice chance to revisit an all-time favorite I hadn’t seen in over a decade.

I am happy to report that, outside of a few outdated scenes of “computers are magic and fix everything!” that are now unintentionally hilarious, the movie totally holds up. I don’t know if the added 3D is necessary, but experiencing that wonder on the big screen is an experience I wholeheartedly recommend – especially if you’ve somehow never seen it before.

Most people know the plot by now. Billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has created the most amazing tourist attraction ever – a theme park/wildlife preserve stocked with dinosaurs brought back from extinction. His team of scientists have cloned several species by extracting blood from ancient mosquitos and corralled them on an island near Costa Rica.

Naturally, his investors and attorney (Martin Ferrero) are nervous about the countless safety issues, so he enlists a trio of scientists (Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum) to inspect the island and, hopefully, offer an endorsement. He also invites his grandchildren (Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello) along for the experience, a decision that proves unwise after a greedy computer programmer (Wayne Knight) accidentally plunges the park into dino-rampaging chaos.

It’s up to Neill’s character to bring the kids back to safety while Attenborough, Dern, Goldblum, another computer programmer (Samuel L. Jackson) and a wildlife expert (Bob Peck) try to restore order. Some characters prove heroic, some make mind-bogglingly stupid decisions and others serve as tasty meals for the exhibits.

What stood out most to me about Jurassic Park 3D is how it unofficially marks the last great hurrah of practical effects in blockbuster filmmaking. In 1993, everyone was hailing it as a breakthrough in computer effects, but the most memorable scenes are all done the old-fashioned way. The audience wouldn’t be nearly as terrified if those kids were pretending their SUV was being crushed by an invisible dinosaur. It’s that pupil dilating and that very real foot squishing in the mud that makes our hearts beat faster.

I also think it’s interesting that I reacted to the performances differently. As a kid, I always sided with Neill’s old-fashioned, romanticized paleontologist. Perhaps I’ve grown cynical in the last 20 years, but I identified far more with Goldblum’s chaos theory expert this time around.

It hit me particularly hard when he tells Hammond, “your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” I wasn’t thinking about the plot’s moral and ethical implications when I was a kid (“stop talking and show more dinosaurs!”), but that element forced me to view the story through a completely different prism, strengthening my connection to the film.

Look, you don’t need me to tell you Jurassic Park 3D is great. The movie is a modern classic, thanks to a sharp screenplay by Michael Crichton and David Koepp, as well as Spielberg’s inspired direction. I know it seems ridiculous to call the world’s most famous filmmaker underrated, but revisit this film on the big screen and I think you’ll realize how much audiences take his genius for granted.

Jurassic Park 3D is rated PG-13 for intense science fiction terror.

Grade: A-